Two more “treasures” from our LILLSTREET THROWDOWN challenges class.
This time it’s Patti & Jon… with Patti’s ring tulipiere, and Jon’s “Rocky Raccoon” tray
from the Beatles S&P challenge! Both amazing!

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And this week in my pottery class we went all medieval on it… with the special new GAME OF THRONES Oreo Cookies!!! Sure, they might be calling them “collector’s items”… but they taste just the same!!!

And what’s better than one pack of OREOs???… FIVE PACKS of OREOs!!!
Thanks Patti & Jon for the big bag of cookies!

This week in my Tuesday night Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing class, we tackled making bowls. Yep… making bowls on purpose instead of a cylinder gone bad. I started with my bowl demo… starting with a good interior curve right from the start! After we had covered all of the “basocs” of basic bowls… they went back to their whee;s to start throwing their own bowls. Meanwhile… I continued throwing more bowls. A total of EIGHTEEN “basic” bowls.

When I had made all of MY owls, we re-grouped at my wheel for a little “decorating” FUN!!! My goal for the secodn part of the demo is to encourage them to PLAY WITH THEIR CLAY!!! To do some decorating… to make thier bowls their own. The wheel pretty much makes them round… now they get to make them their own style!!! So I quickly took my 18 “matching” bowls and started doing some quick & simple “tricks” to make them all different & special!!!

Bowl One – Here’s the “basic” bowl.. the starting point for all the others!!!

Bowl Two – Two simple “flutes” to add some flair. One finger inside, one finger outside. pinch and twist.

Bowl Three – And if two flutes are cute, maybe eight would be better?!

Bowl Four – A simple one-inch flange bent out to “widen” the bowl.

Bowl Five – And if one-inch is nice, maybe three inches would be better?!

Bowl Six – And then a combined, bent-out flange and four fluted twists.

Bowl Seven – Using a metal dragon-scaling tool… a simple flower indented in the bottom.

Bowl Eight – A split-rim pinched together in eight places.

Bowl Nine – Another split rim – dented inwards at four places.

Bowl Ten – Another split rim this time dented inwards four times, and outwards four times!

Bowl Eleven – This was last session’s “challenge” bowl… a TRIPLE split rim and then fluted in eight places. My students from last session now refer to this one as the “churro” bowl!

And then I introduced my “beginner’s” to colored slip… and then benefits.

Bowl Twelve – a simple coat of thick white slip  applied and then a spiral dragged through it with the curved end of my wooden knife… which I’ve now been told is called “The Potter’s Thumb.”

We noticed that the thick white slip wasn’t showing up very well for my demo purposes…
so we switched to black!

Bowl Thirteen – A layer of black slip – and then banded rings with “The Potters Thumb.”

Bowl Fourteen – A layer of black slip, and then a chattered pattern made by rhythmic tapping of a rounded rib as the bowl is spinning.

Bowl Fifteen – A layer of black slip, followed by some thick white slip squirt-bottled onto the surface… ala Ryan Greenheck!

Bowl Sixteen – Then using the same squirt bottle, I piped on a white slip spiral.

Bowl Seventeen – Using a couple strips of wet newspaper, I outlined a triangle… layered in some thick white slip, draged my finer through it to make some texture lines and then peeled away the newspaper “stencils.”

Bowl Eighteen – Always up for a challenge… this is the one this session. Stacey was sitting-in on class and she saw this bowl on her Instagram feed. So I tried my best to “mimic” the style… flaring out the flanged rim, denting down the four accent areas, and then piping some thick white slip accents. Coincidentally, Stacey was also the one who challenged me to the triple rim “churro” bowl last session

So for now they’re all “under wraps” in my studio. I think there’s a”very good chance” that there might still be a bit of embellishing & stamping to be done on them… maybe, just maybe?!

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Another finished piece from the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN!!!
This time it’s Dave’s coil-built porcelain tulipiere glazed with a subtle celadon….
beautiful, and his first coil pot to boot!!!

Last night’s class demo… throwing taller.
Showing them ways to get the clay to move up the wall, off the bottom and how to get their pieces taller… like this 3lbs. of clay! So here’s my demo vase as I threw it… and then as I stamped it tonight. I definitely like the stamped one better!!!

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We’re in our third week of my Beginning Wheel class. They’re moving along nicely, but at some point they’re going to be ready to start decorating… and “quite possibly” do a little stamping. So last night in class we sat down to have them make some new stamps for themselves to use. Of course they  need to dry and be bisque fired first. But then they’ll get to play with texture & pattern. Two of my FAVORITE things!!!

Last night in class we had some delicacies from Japan… after “searching” all of Japan for OREO’s, my student Michelle returned from vacation with “biscuits” which were as close as she could find. Yummy… but still not an OREO.

And to seal the deal, she also brought Japanese Kit-Kat candy bars!!!
Sure they may have been GREEN matcha tea flavor?!!!!.. but still Michelle ROCKS!!!

Tonight in my Beginners Wheelthrowing class, we tackled mugs and it’s only their second week!!! Sure, one of them might not hold much liquid… but it was Mario’s first pot, first time trimming and first time adding a handle. I told him I t will only get better!!!

Every challenge needs winners… and ribbons.. and a TROPHY!!! Right?
After twenty-eight challenges in just 10 weeks of class, we finally have some winners!!!
And surprisingly, we were just a dozen points difference between the top three places!!!

First off… the ribbons… all well-deserved in my book at least!!!

So let’s break it down a little bit more…

SILLIEST SONGSTRESS – Susan
BEST TAG-TEAM – Patti & Jon
CRAZY ATTENTION-TO-DETAIL – Tatiana
BEST SARCASTIC EYE-ROLL – Molly
BEST FACIAL EXPRESSIONS – Claire

THE QUIET UNDERDOG – Taylor
BEST PORCELAIN LOYALTY – David
BEST “FOCUSED” PHOTOS – Teresa
BEST DULL TOOL TECHNICIAN – Ryan
BEST GIGGLE – Donna
BEST OREO BALLS – Jacob

And now for the TOP WINNERS!!!

THIRD PLACE – RYAN

SECOND PLACE – we had a tie!!!…. TAYLOR & TATIANA

And for the BIG WINNER… a TROPHY TOO!!!

And our BIG WINNER!!!

CONGRATULATIONS DONNA… who came into the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN
as the “dark horse” and the only primarily handbuilder in the class. I must admit I was questioning if she would be able to keep up with the wheelthrowers… but she SHINED!!! Her creativity, boundless enthusiasm, and willingness to try anything made her the winner!!!

Huge thanks to all of my wonderful students this session! I had so much fun “playing” with all of you this session! Thank you for always sucking it up and playing along with the challenges. Thanks for the camaraderie & supportive nature you all brought to the class. I’ve always thought that pottery classes should be fun, social and community building… and we’ve proven once again that they can be! Thanks again for the great class.

YOU GUYS ROCKED IT!!!

Left to right, kind of… David, Teresa, Jacob, Molly, Ryan, Tatiana, Taylor, Jon, Claire, Donna, Patti and Susan! You guys were the BEST!!!

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It was the last night of class, and we had already critiqued & judged the final project…. but I still had one more trick up my sleeves. With two of my studetns getting married this Spring, and wanting to make ceramic vases to share with all of their guests… I figured what better way than with a THROWDOWN assembly line?! So we all buckled down and started cranking out as many vases as we could during the remainder of class. Everyone had a great time working & chatting together. A perfect way to end our class!

And our lovely “hand model” Susan…

And here’s Jacob, the Groom-To-Be, putting some final touches on a cylinder by carving some patterns into it with our favorite DiamondCore Carving Tool.

And here’s Molly, the Bride-To-Be, who “apparently” didn’t get the memo that they were all making small vases out of extruded tubes?! What’s with that???

And here they are by the end of class… approximately half of what they’re hoping to get finished in the next month or so… as the wedding is later this Spring!!!

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